Brody's surgery/ Babies are 4 weeks old today!

Brody had surgery today. During the night he started showing signs that something was wrong. They had to put him on blood pressure medications and increase oxygen. They took some x rays and were worried about a spot in his intestine. The surgeon, Dr. Bloss reviewed the x rays and thought they should take a look to find out what was going on since the x ray was not giving a clear explanation. Turns out a part of his intestine was blocked. This is the reason he has not been able to poop or handle his feedings. They removed it as well as his appendix. Dr. Bloss told us that it had nothing to do with him being born early and even if he was born at 40 weeks he would have still had to have the surgery. For the next 8 weeks his intestine will need to heal so they have bypassed the intestine and have his poop going to the outside in a bag. Once it is healed (in 8 weeks) they will go back in and connect everything. They will also circumcise him at that time so hopefully that will be his last surgery and getting two things done at once. Tonight he is recovering from surgery. He is still very sleepy and has some common things happening. His blood pressure is low and his heart rate is high. They are not alarmed and were expecting this. He will be ok.Dr. Bloss is so wonderful. Not only is he so talented but he has a personality! He always says, "I'll care for him like he was mine" and he does! He did the PDA surgeries on all three and the surgery on Gracie for the central line.Little Miss Gracie is doing well. They were not able to get her off the vent today but that is fine. We don't want to rush her if she isn't ready. She is growing! The Orthopedic came last night. He said not to do anything while she is still in the hospital. The plan is for them to put a cast on her foot and change it out once a week. The cast should fix it. The hip, leg and spine issue will be worked out when she starts walking. Of course we will have ongoing appointments so the plan could change but right now it seems good. Gracie's newest thing is finger signs. She has been doing the hook em horns all day today. Ms. Alex her nurse just loved it with her being an Aggie and all :)Madilynn is doing well. No changes. She is eating, sleeping, pooping, peeing, eating, sleeping, pooping, peeing... GROWING!! Her newest thing is sucking on her fingers usually her middle and ring fingers at the same time...These little princesses and prince are so wonderful! I think I'm going to get Ricky a new i phone 4 that has a video recorder so I hope to figure out a way to post videos!!

Afternoon update

Current weights: Brody 2.14, Gracie 2.5, Madi 2.7Brody is doing better. They thought he may be sick this morning but the second x ray they took looked a lot better. They are holding off on transfusion and medication to pull fluid off lungs to see if he really needs it.Gracie is doing a lot better. She is now off IV fluids. They are going to keep the central line (line in her chest) for a couple of days (since they had to do surgery to put it in) to make sure she does not need any fluids for sure before they take it out! They have also been able to come down on the vent settings and are working on bring her oxygen levels down too.Madi is good. No new changes made with her.I'm feeling much better about things today! The babies are hitting goals even though there are some set backs at times. They are going to be 4 weeks old tomorrow! WOW!Krista

Gracie is finally in her bed. Not a good subject so I'm not adding more. She still needs about 50% oxygen. She did get a transfusion today so we hope it will help and she will need less oxygen. After she was moved into her new bed, they gave her a bath so she is resting very well. She is also no longer on morphine for the noise. No comment on that either.Brody is doing well. Ricky was not able to hold him because he needed more oxygen when the nurse was checking him. We hope Ricky can hold him tomorrow night. He had a spinal tap today to drain the fluid off his brain. He is on about 54% oxygen.Madilynn is doing well. Ricky held her tonight. She is growing so much.Ricky and I will speak with the doctor tomorrow night. I don't understand what is keeping both Brody and Gracie on the vent and so much oxygen. Just want answers on that. Also, I want to find out when the Orthopedic will be in to see Gracie because I want to be there to ask questions about her spine and to find out first hand what the game plan.We have had a very stressful time since Thursday with the things going on in the NICU. It is giving me a very uneasy feeling.Overall the babies are doing well. Please keep praying for us all. It is really hard leaving there everyday without our babies. Grow Babies Grow!Krista & Ricky

Wednesday

They think Brody is sick. They are running a bunch of tests. Won't really know for 24-48 hours. They have given him a transfusion and have stop his feeds. They have started antibiotics.

Treat my babies wrong, deal with Mom AND Dad

Called NICU manager and Ricky called too. Looks like the problems we have been having will be resolved. They are locating Gracie a new bed and Madi has a great nurse. Manager will make sure if our primary nurses are off we will still have experienced good nurses.We are very thankful for the good nurses and our doctors.

Happy Monday!

Krista

Monday update

If you haven't been on in a while, scroll down and read from the bottom up.Gracie is about the same. She is not allowing the nurses to bring the vent settings down. The good news is she does not have an infection with the new tests that were ran. The puzzling part is we don't know why she can't get off the vent. She looks good and is resting well so I hope she can get stronger and get off the vent soon.Brody is doing well. He looks great. They did his head ultrasound again. One side increased a little and the other has gone down a little. They will do more spinal taps to get the extra fluid off. We can hold him everyday however; he needed a little break from things today so I didn't hold him. (Ricky is still at work so he was not able to see them today, its midnight)Madi is eating, sleeping and using the bathroom. I was able to hold her tonight and she did great (we had our favorite nurse that knows what she is doing) She is very prong dependent but that is normal for babies her age because the lungs are under developed.Since our call to the department manager Brody and Gracie are able to share a nurse again and they are moving beds to get Gracie in the bed she needs.Tonight during part two of my visit a baby died. He or she was right behind Madi. It was terrible. I hate it for the family. It is a reality check for sure. Ricky and I have so much to be thankful for and this experience will make sure we never forget just how blessed we are.Anyway, please keep our babies in your thoughts and prayers. They need the Miracle Grow :)

Krista

Visitors

Meme will not be able to visit today. Gracie does not need any additonal exposure to germs per the nurse so only Ricky and I can visit. They have not been able to lower her vent settings and by this time they were wanting her off the vent. They are running more tests today.

Future visitors:The NICU will only allow visitors in if parent or parents are there. The situation above is why this is happening. A lot of times the receptionist does not know these little details unless something major is going on with baby like surgery or chest tubes, etc. Also, things change during the day that only we would know when we call to get updates.Ricky and I want the visitors that are approved and on the list to see our babies but their health comes before any visit. We will have to follow these same rules when they are home too so we don't go back to the hospital. Please call us if you have any questions.

Thanks for your help :)

Brody & Mommy!

YES, I got to hold my son!!! It was so awesome! I was so surprised when the doctor said I could hold him tonight. He did very well. We talked about home, the dogs, and his sisters :) trying to prepare him now. I'm so happy! I hope Ricky is able to hold him tomorrow night. Keep your fingers crossed for them. Brody will have another brain scan tomorrow morning to see how much fluid is there and to see if the bleeds have resolved.We had a very scary situation with Madi tonight. I was holding her or trying to hold her. Had another bad nurse that has no idea how to give a baby to their mom. Anyway, she hands her over never making sure her breathing is ok, has her air tube kinked and just walks off. Machine starts going off so another nurse walks over and Madi isn't doing well at all so, while in my arms she starts trying to get Madi to breath. I tell them to call the repertory team so we can put her back, by the time everyone is there Madi's isn't looking good so they page all kinds of people and nurses are really scared. By this time I'm crying my eyes out scared to death they finally get her back in her bed and oxygen up. The doctor is shocked at all this. Ricky is so mad since this is the second time in the past couple days this has happened. Anyway, Madi is fine just need nurses that know what they are doing! She is on 25% oxygen which is great and doing very well with her feeds too :)Gracie is resting very well. She looks good but doctor is still trying to find out what is going on with her lungs. She needs more air than Brody at this time. We hope she will get past whatever is going on in the next day or two. The Orthopedic surgeon will be visiting her this week. Probably won't be able to start any therapy until her breathing is better but we hope to at least have a game plan.I will be speaking with the unit director tomorrow regarding all these crazy issues. Wish me luck or maybe just the director. I know I'm not being crazy when Ricky feels the same way about the issues we are having. He is the calm one after all.Our babies are so amazing. I have the cutest kids ever!!God is great!Krista

Sunday plans

Happy Sunday everyone! If you don't take time daily to see how blessed you are then do it today!Ricky and I will be visiting the hospital this afternoon with Great-Meme. I'm excited for her to see the babies because they have grown so much since her last visit.I need to take some new pictures and post them so stay tuned for that ;)

Krista

Brody update :)

I just called to check on the babies before I head to bed and have to share the good news...The machine that was giving pressure to keep Brody's lungs open is no longer needed! This is separate from the breathing machine. When he was not doing so well his first week of life they had to put him on this machine. He was at the max setting of 20. I'm so excited about him being off of this because we are one step closer to being able to hold him :)
Ricky is asleep so he does not know this news yet.... If you are up past midnight you are the first to know!!! Goodnight :)

Krista

A baby asked God

A baby asked God, “They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?” God said, “Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.”The child further inquired, “but tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy.” God said, “Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy.”Again the child asked, “And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?” God said, “Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.”“And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?” God said, “Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.”“Who will protect me?” God said, “Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life.”“But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.” God said, “Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.”At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, “God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.”God said, “You will simply call her, Mom.”Author unknown

Saturday

Madi has no IV now!! WHOO HOO!!! She is now on 15 ml every 3 hours for feeds. She is doing well. The only tubes she has is her C Pap and her feeding tube.Brody is doing well too. I spoke to the doctor regarding his breathing tube and if he will have long term damage to his lungs because of him being on the vent so long. She said that he will be on the vent for another several weeks. He is doing better but his lungs are still sick. She said she is working on me being able to hold him next week even with the breathing tube in. I hope! In regards to long term, once he is home, he cannot get sick at all. If he gets sick there is a very high chance he would have to go back on the vent. It will be like this for the first 2 years. The good news is kids grow new lung tissue until the age of 7 so he will be ok but the first two years will be difficult. Ricky and I had no clue about this until tonight. We are very happy that he will be ok and healthy but it is going to be very hard to make sure there are no germs or sickness around him or the girls. From what the doctor said he will need to be followed very close by his pediatrician and not have him out of our home or people in our home. He is now 2 lbs 10 oz and has the IV out of his head! He does still have the pic line in for now.Gracie is doing good but still on the vent. The doctor didn't think she would be on the vent this long but she is needing the support. For the first time tonight Ricky and I gave her a bath. She did really great. We were a little nervous since this was our first time but all went well. They gave her 2 blood transfusions to help with her oxygen as well as giving her medication to help draw fluid off the lungs. She is 2 lbs 3 oz tonight. I will ask the doctor on Monday when they will start therapy for her hip/leg/feet issues.

I wish everyone could meet our babies so you can see how blessed Ricky and I are. The babies are so sweet and precious. Being a parent is amazing!

Krista

Weight updates

Tonight during our visit all three babies were sleeping peacefully so we didn't disturb them.

Brody weighs 2 lbs 7 oz
Gracie weighs 2 lbs 2 oz
Madi weighs 2 lbs 5 oz

The past 21 hours

Got a phone call in the middle of the night... I hate those because they aren't calling to ask how you are sleeping. This time it was Gracie. Apparently she was breathing fast shallow breaths. Mix this with too much air in her belly and her belly being too big = her saturation (oxygen level) going waaaay down and not coming back up quick enough. Solution: ventilator :( I got there around 3:30 am she was settled finally but was not tolerating touches or noise. Once they drew blood I was able to put my hands over her and talk to her she grabbed my hand and didn't let go. I knew she was ok. I finally started breathing :) Every time I tried leaving her to check on Brody and Madi she started to cry and her saturation went down so I had to wait until she was totally asleep to slip away. This is getting harder everyday to walk out with out our babies. Anyway, Brody and Madi were just fine. Brody was wide awake (hope he "grows" out of being wide awake in the middle of the night) and Madi was sound asleep. Got home around 6 am and crashed.Fast forward to noon. Babies were good when I called and checked on them. Ricky came home for his ortho appointment.Fast forward to 5:15 pm: Finally beat 290 traffic and get to NICU only to walk in and be told we have 10 minutes because another baby was transferred there for emergency surgery SO, we hang out until 7:45 pm.Tonight babies are doing good. Brody is awake and alert. Doing well with everything besides pooping. They may have to give him medication tomorrow to help him go. They started him on medication to help his digestive system "wake up". You can tell he is really ready to get off the vent and on C Pap. We hope he continues to do well so he can get off of it. He has another spinal tap tomorrow. Praying that goes as well as the first one but I know that is very painful for him even with the medication they give him :( Gracie is doing well. She was resting very well while we were there. They are venting the air off her belly every couple of hours which seems to help. If she continues to improve she will be off vent either tomorrow or Saturday. She is now 2 pounds and holding :) Madi is doing well. The doctor started her on medications for reflux today. Since being on the medication they have been able to see great improvement. They are also doing eye massages every 6 hours to help her tear ducts unclog and drain correctly. I was able to hold her for about 15 minutes today. Had a nurse that didn't know how to get her tubes right along with hand her to me so I was very worried the entire time and finally asked to just put her back. She settled in and went back to sleep :)I'm meeting with the main supervisor over the NICU tomorrow. We are having numerous issues with some things that are going on. They have put Gracie in another new bed. This one does not have a lid so she is out in the open. The problem with this is 1) the germs 2) she is sensitive to light and noise. They have put Madi right at the main door very high traffic. Problem with this is our baby is 3 weeks old and 2 pounds 4 oz (she lost weight) and does not need the germs! Also since they moved Gracie in a new bed we now can't have our primary nurse that was over Brody and Gracie. There are really great nurses however, there are nurses there for a pay check only and I'm not going to have them taking care of my children SO, I will be addressing that too. Nursing is the number 1 burn out so I realize those are not going to give a 100% but they will not take care of my babies!
I'm ending this post very THANKFUL for our children and the amazing doctors and nurses that love our babies and give them 100%. God is the reason our babies are here with us and doing so well. These little bumps in the road will pass and we probably won't remember all this stuff a year from now.
FIGHT BABIES GROW!!!
Please keep our family in your prayers.
Krista

Brody had his spinal tap today. They got a good amount of fluid from it and will do another on Friday. He will be weighed again on Thursday. He woke up when Ricky and I talked to him and looked at us. He is so sweet. I really want him on C Pap and off the Vent ASAP so they can get that tube out of his throat and so we can hold him!Gracie is doing well. She gained weight! She is now 1 lbs 14 oz! They also moved her into a new "home". The NICU has bed levels. Her new bed does not have a temperature control element which means she has to keep her own body temperature up. So far so good.Madilynn is doing good. I held her tonight. I was concerned with some goop that had her eyes matted shut so the nurse wiped them and Madi was able to open her eyes. The nurse checked her eyes for me because her eye had goop too but apparently the nurses need to do a better job at keeping them clean so I will be on top of this from here on out. Other than that my lil chicken is good. I'm trying to talk her out of her temper. So far our little "talks" aren't working.I'm very thankful that they are being taken care of but I'm ready for them to be home. NICU life is hard on the babies but also us too. It is exhausting and a rollercoaster. You want to nurture your children but really can't because you don't want to hurt them or over stimulate them. It is hard not to be able to pick them up when they are crying or hurting. They will be 3 weeks old on Thursday and I've never held my son. That is really hard. It is heart breaking to see all the tubes and IVs and the procedures. I wish I could have carried them longer but I'm thankful we have them and they are doing so well.
Please keep our family in your prayers.
Krista

Wednesday

Babies are doing well. Brody has finally pooped for the first time :) Doctor has increased all three babies' feeds :) Brody is now 2 lbs 8 oz. Not sure yet what Gracie and Madi's weight is (they will be weighed at either midnight or 3 am).I still have additional pictures to add and will get that done ASAP.
Ricky has an Ortho appointment tomorrow afternoon so we will be able to spend a lot longer at the hospital :)

Krista

Welcome to our blog!

Hi everyone! Welcome to our blog! This will be much easier for everyone to check for the latest news and pictures. I will get all the pictures of the babies loaded in the next week or so.

Baby news:Last night Ricky got to hold Gracie for the first time. It was really great! She did wonderful as did he :) Gracie is still breathing fast and is requiring 50-60% oxygen. They are bringing that down as she allows. They have went up on her feeds to 1.6 ml per hour. She is now 1 lbs 11 oz! For those who do not know Gracie's brain bleed is gone!Brody is up on his vent settings as well as oxygen. He had some fluid on his lungs so they are giving him medication that will make him pee the fluid out. They are doing another blood transfusion again today to help with his ozygen levels. They had to redo his pic line (main IV) they were able to get that after two tries. Now that he has a good pic line they will be able to give him good nutrition. For those who do not know, Brody's brain bleed on both sides are resolving however, he does still have fluid on his brain. They will be doing spinal taps every 3-4 days to drain this fluid. The first will be done this afternoon. The head ultrasound will be repeated on Monday to see where we stand. Brody is now 2 lbs 3 oz!Madilynn is doing well. They think she has reflux caused by her muscles still being weak. They are going to spread out her feeds over 1 hour instead of 30 minutes. Her transfusions went well and they have gone up on her feeds. She is now 2 lbs 3 oz!

We are so BL3SSED to have our babies and have them doing so well. God is so amazing we see that everyday.

Please continue to pray for our babies. Prayer is the Miracle Grow for our babies :)

Krista & Ricky

Madi

Madilynn is going on nasal cannula! This is so awesome! We are not telling her though so ssshhhhhh :)(Nasal cannula is what you or I would have it we needed oxygen while in the hospital)I will post pictures tonight.Krista

Welcome Patton Triplets! Ricky and I welcomed our triplets into our family on July 1, 2010 at 9:11 pm at 25 weeks and 3 days.

Brody Gerald 1 lbs 14 oz 13 1/2 inches long
Gracie Ann 1 lbs 10 oz 12 1/4 inches long
Madilynn Faith 1 lbs 12 oz 13 inches long